Antheme for Doomed Youth

Anthem for doomed youth suggests, is a poem about waste of many young men in the First World War. It is a sonnet written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier in First World War. He was against the war and was dismayed by horror of the war. The poem has two sections, each starts with a question and remainder of the section answers it. The octet is dominated by the picture of battle. The sestet is characterized by mutiny of it. Throughout the poem, poet draws the comparison of traditional funeral rituals and ceremonies with the certainty of death for a soldier on the battlefield. “What passing bells for these who die as cattle?”

The poem opens by a question asking what sign will be sounded to these men who have been drowned of their life just like mass slaughter of animals. Instead of a bell, to call people to mourn for their lives there is “monstrous anger”, an epithet by sound of firing guns. The guns are personified and the noise created by them is the “orisons” , prayers for the soldiers. Here the question at the beginning has been answered , the sound of gun, bullets(bells ringing) and a very harsh environment is been created for them. There are no rituals being performed, dead bodies are being crushed and affronted. The orisons of sound of firing is actually said to be appalling as it kills the soldiers. In the battlefield, the overall notion would be harsh and unmusical, making the listeners wince. This is why the choirs are described as “shrill” and “demented” – it is a mad and horrific disharmony of sound. . The guns and shells together create for us the atmosphere of the battle – a confusing mix of sounds that are the tragic reality for the soldiers at the moment of their deaths. The inadequacy of society’s response to this mass death is noted – their prayers and bells that usually do nothing but “mockeries” to these soldiers. “And bugles calling them from sad shires”